El orden alimentario y los territorios de los comedores

Observation is the technique of gathering data through direct contact with an object —usually another human being. The researcher watches the behaviour and documents the properties of the object (Potter, 1996:98).

Marshall and Rossman (1995:79) define observation as ‘the systematic description of events, behaviors and artifacts in the social setting chosen for the study’. Observation is used quite often in qualitative research.

This strategy is used as a principal data gathering strategy in qualitative research because researchers are interested in the ways in which people usually make sense of or attach meaning to the world around them (De Vos, 2001:277).

The researcher conducted classroom observation so as to observe how the selected educators and learners actually used languages in the learning and teaching of Physical Sciences. This helped to confirm or disconfirm the perceptions of respondents gathered in interviews.

According to Sherman and Webb (1991), in qualitative research there are two types of observation, namely simple observation where the researcher remains an outsider, and

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participant observation, where the researcher is simultaneously a participating member of the group under study.

In this study the researcher adopted the simple observation method to collect data from the sample under study. Participant observation might have jeopardized the authenticity of the interactions and responses the researcher was looking for in focusing on the effects of using one or more languages in the class. For this reason, the researcher had planned to make use of video-recording during classroom observations. Fifteen-minute segments of Physical Science lessons were to have been video-recorded, with the main focus on the educators and learners who formed part of the sample. However, in the end this proved impractical.

The observation schedule was based on the following categories and lesson elements:  Recapping of the previous lesson

 Introduction of new concepts  Explanation of new terms

 Language used for general communication in the classroom

 The use of English and isiXhosa terms in the learning and teaching of Physical Sciences

 The language used by teachers when giving instructions, asking questions, and explaining scientific concepts

 Participation by learners  Group discussions  Provision of feedback  Conclusion of the lesson.

Babbie (2005) identifies the following advantages of observation:

 Observation can be done anywhere. If possible the researcher is also able to take notes on his/her observation as the events unfold. It forces the observer to familiarise herself/himself with the subject.

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 Observations allow previously unnoticed or ignored aspects to be seen. It is said that actions speak louder than words, and therefore observing participants’ actions were valuable.

 Observations are unobtrusive, and when obtrusive, the effect wears off in a reasonable time.

The other advantage of observation is that it allows simultaneous recording of both behaviour and circumstances, and permits the recording of events which would have been left out in the interview.

On the other hand, observation is not without its problems. The researcher conducted some classroom observations and found out that the presence of the observer may alter the behaviour of the participants. This means that if the participants are under

observation, their normal behaviour can be affected and this change in behaviour has a negative effect on the reliability of data being collected. This is known as the “observer effect”. Gall et al. (1996) define observer effect as an action by the observer that has a negative effect on the validity or reliability of the data being collected. According to Wilson (1987), it is necessary for researchers to produce positive arguments for the status of their data so that any conclusions based on such data do not turn out to be unfounded.

Observing and recording events at the same time could be problematic. Written notes are often insufficient to capture the richness of what one observes (Leedy and Ormrod, 2005). With this in mind, the researcher decided to engage the services of an assistant researcher, so that at the end of each classroom observation, what was observed by the two could be reconciled.

Classifying observation for the purpose of comparisons could be difficult, owing to the lack of standard sequence of behaviour as each event may be unique. Also the observer's own perceptions, beliefs and biases could influence the way he or she

observes and interprets the event. This disadvantage was minimised through the use of an observation guide, as well as by having two observers in one classroom. The

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researcher and the research assistant had decided beforehand which behaviour to observe and to record.

Inattention, fatigue and the limitations of the sense organs may oblige the observer to miss some of the events that he or she could have regarded as being unimportant, had s/he noticed them. To solve the problems that memory may pose, the researcher and the research assistant could have video-recorded all the observations as the lesson progressed in each classroom, and compared observations afterwards. However, this plan was discarded as it caused the participants to very uncomfortable, which would have created a problem on its own.

3.5 Sampling

Kumar (as cited in Reid, 2001) explains that a sample is a sub-group of the population you are interested in. In this study, the sample was comprised of educators who teach Physical Sciences from Grade 10 to 12 in each of the four schools, and four Grade 11 learners (per school) who study Physical Sciences at these selected schools. The schools were selected purposively – two rural schools and two township schools which offer Physical Sciences as a subject. In a case study such as this, selection is purposive in order to obtain data from relevant individuals or to maximise broad representivity rather than in order to generalise to a population.

The four schools that were selected for participation in the study are located in the urban and rural areas of King Williams Town Education District, the assumption being that the communities in these areas are isiXhosa-speaking.